text:
Told You So … and Didn't
We're a bit past one-quarter of the way through the season, so it's time to review some of my wild and crazy Mets predictions of April 6th, 2009.
I've selected particular predictions that seem relevant at the moment, but you can see them all here.
Johan Santana will win 21 games, and take the Cy Young.
He certainly looks on that pace so far, no? In truth, he's on pace to win 22. Woo hoo.
John Maine will struggle so mightily in the first half that he will be sent to the minors to work out issues with his mechanics and command.
So far, so wrong. I still think his mechanics are a disaster, but Maine is far from being sent to the minors. Maybe I meant Oliver Perez?
Livan Hernandez will be the tortoise and Oliver Perez the hare, and Livan will quietly emerge as the Mets #3 starter by year's end, posting 13 victories.
This one certainly seems plausible. My calculator says he's on track to win 14.6.
Maine and Perez will combine for less than 20 wins.
This one is very possible.
Darren O'Day and Sean Green will combine for 20 decisions in middle relief.
With O'Day saving games in Texas and Green banished to the doghouse, this one looks like an impossibility. The spirit of the prediction was that a couple of nondescript middle relievers would get more decisions than they should.
Mike Pelfrey will take a no-hitter into the 9th inning, but settle for a one-hit shutout.
There's plenty of time for this one.
Tim Redding will throw less than 50 innings all season.
I hope I'm wrong.
Luis Castillo will receive consideration for the All-Star Game, and finish the year with a .295 AVG., .375 OBP, and 28 SB.
This one looked good at the end of April, right now, it's iffy. He's currently at .283 AVG/.372 OBP/6 SB
Danny Murphy will have trouble keeping his average above .250 in the first six weeks of the season, and Gary Sheffield will take over as the starting leftfielder.
Um … Murphy's hitting .246 and Sheff's the starting left fielder. I will admit to being two weeks off, though. Damn tea leaves.
Sheffield will be a key run producer for the Mets, and finish fourth on the team in RBI.
So far, so good. And he is currently fourth on the team in RBI, btw.
Very few "Putz" jerseys will be sold by the Mets, for obvious reasons.
Still rings true.
Not one "Shawn Green" jersey will be sold to a patron thinking it's a "Sean Green" jersey.
I'm not sure ANY "Green" jerseys will be sold, period.
Ryan Church will be traded to the Rockies.
Time will tell. I'm starting to think the team may be the Diamondbacks though. Or maybe the A's or Astros. Someone out west, in any case.
The Mets' lack of a second LOOGY will be a major point of concern, and trade rumors will swirl around the names Eddie Guardado, Matt Thornton, and Alan Embree. The Mets will wind up with Bobby Seay, against whom lefties hit .303 lifetime.
How was I to know Ken Takahashi would be so dominating?
The Mets will have a strong record outside the division, but will be only a few games above .500 against NL East teams.
The Mets are 11-8 vs. the NL East, 13-12 vs. everyone else. It's still early for this one to play out.
Jose Valentin will make it back to the 25-man roster before the end of the season.
Oh, Jose, if only you stuck it out in Buffalo, you'd be starting at shortstop right now.
Bobby Ojeda will start doing commercials for the Hair Club for Men.
Like many of these, there's still time ….


text:
Dislike–deciding to "diss" liking.
In the pursuit of what we call love, and even unconditional love, we've reached a point where we just don't like each other anymore. We have the appearance of Atlas carrying the world on our shoulders because we feel compelled by our civilized natures to be as calm as possible.
We "diss" liking. We claim great affection for souls around us while privately rolling our eyes, communicating that they are annoying.
So when I arrived yesterday morning at the Ruskin United Methodist Church, I was looking for people who like each other. Because here's the truth–a paraphrase of John the Apostle: I don't think you can love God if you don't like people.
It seems that God is really proud of His creation.
I know we portray an anxious deity, constantly perturbed over our sins, but since He gave us the ability and even the permission, I seriously doubt that He will be terribly upset when we occasionally go errant.
The greatest arrogance, the most self-righteousness, and perhaps the sin of all sins, is to believe that human beings are not worth liking.
- It's in our government.
- It's in our religious system.
- It's in our movies.
We are training ourselves to be suspicious, and failing to acquire great moments of human fellowship that just demand a little bit of mercy and grace.
I'm not one to advocate looking in the rear view mirror and assuming that the past was better than the present, but I will tell you, if there was any era when people were given the chance to excel without being pre-judged, then we might want to reach back into that span of time and regain some of that tenderness.
For the good news is, God likes people.
And the better news is, He loves those who like them, too.
Published by Jonathan Cring

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) is the premier member organization dedicated to precast/prestressed concrete professionals and organizations. PCI members include organizations and individuals offering a unique opportunity to access the entirety of the precast/prestressed concrete business landscape.
These projects have been designated by the PCI Online Academy Advisory Board. In 2015, PCI launched the PCI Online Academy, a continuing education series for engineering professionals and students. The Academy has been designed to offer continuing education courses that consist of weekly, 90-minute modules taught over a period of three to six weeks on a topic of interest to the precast/prestressed concrete industry. Academy courses are targeted to engineers and architects with different backgrounds (producers, structural, architectural, etc.) and other precast/prestressed concrete professionals.


text:
Atmospher Sci & Global Chg
April 2014
Dooley Quoted in National Geographic on Coal Impacts
James Dooley, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory senior scientist working at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, a partnership between PNNL and the University of Maryland, was quoted in the April issue of National Geographic. The article "Can Coal Ever Be Clean?" describes the leading role coal plays in driving global climate change as well as the local ecological impacts associated coal mining. Dooley is an expert on greenhouse gas emissions mitigation technologies and in particular on carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS). In the National Geographic article, he states that while CCS is a promising component of how humanity can address climate change, CCS will not begin to deploy commercially unless there are regulations in place that establish a penalty for releasing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere or otherwise encourage the use of this technology. Dooley's research has shown that CCS technologies that exist today can play a critical role in reducing the global climate impacts associated with fossil fuel use, and can do so at a reasonable cost.


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RTC 2009-10 Impact Players – Wrap-Up
Posted by rtmsf on November 8th, 2009Over the course of the last ten weeks we've broken down sixty players from around the country whom we expect will have the biggest impact on college basketball this season. We performed this exercise geographically, choosing five high-major and one mid-major player from each of the somewhat arbitrary ten regions of the country. If you'd like to read through the individual regions (and we highly encourage that), you can check all ten here.
If you don't have the time or inclination to read through all of the previous posts, we'll summarize here for you by rating the strongest to the weakest regions.
(ed. note: we started this so long ago that Binghamton still had a promising basketball program, and DJ Rivera still had a place to play)
1. Lower Midwest Region (OH, IN, IL, IA, NE, KS)
Overview. This seemed pretty clear just at a first glance. Aldrich, Collins and Harangody are three of the 1st team AAs on the RTC preseason list, and Brackins and Turner are on the 2d team. This group has unbelievable scoring ability, size and experience. The only weak link is the mid-major inclusion of Eldridge, who is a fine player, but not in the class of the rest of these superstars. The nation's heartland is the epicenter of college basketball talent this year.
Best Players Left Out. Where to start? The depth in this region is incredible. Gordon Hayward and Matt Howard at Butler, Robbie Hummell and E'Twaun Moore at Purdue, even Lance Stephenson at Cincinnati. The #6-10 players in this region would probably be better than all but a few of the other regions.
2. Mid-South Region (KY, TN, MO, AR, OK)
Overview. It was a very close call between this region and the South Atlantic, but we felt that the guard play of Warren and Wall with Anderson on the wing would compensate for what this team gives up in size. And it doesn't give up much, considering Patterson, Smith and Jordan are all exceptional inside. Tough call, but Wall is the likely #1 pick, so he's the x-factor.
Best Players Left Out. Plenty of raw size here, including Samardo Samuels at Louisville, Michael Washington at Arkansas and DeMarcus Cousins at Kentucky. Throw in the skilled size of AJ Ogilvy at Vanderbilt and Wayne Chism at Tennessee and this area will punish you on the interior.
3. South Atlantic Region (DC, VA, NC, SC, GA)
Overview. This is the third region that's chock full of NBA talent – each of the rest below have smatterings of it, but not nearly as much. Aminu, Booker and Singler all define skilled versatility, while Monroe could end up the best big in the entire country if he wants it enough. Sanders is a little undersized but relentless as well.
Best Players Left Out. Ed Davis at UNC was a lighting rod topic, as some felt that he'd be an all-american this year with his length and skill set. Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal are two others. A good argument could be made that this region had the best players left out, but it sorta depends on how this year plays out due to their relative youth and inexperience.


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Stranded Marine Mammals Stir Tough Decisions
Experts propose guidelines for when to rehabilitate, release, and euthanize
A seal, sick or injured, is found stranded on a beach. What should be done?
That depends on whom you ask.
An animal welfare advocate would urge efforts to help the disabled animal. A scientist might want to rehabilitate it with another reason also in mind: to release and track it, and learn about wildlife populations. Veterinarians might welcome the rare opportunity to discover more about wildlife diseases and physiology—though they would also be wary of exposure to diseases that could be transmitted to humans.
The range of perspectives doesn't end there. California or East Coast fishermen might not shed a tear about losing one out of a proliferating population of seals that they perceive to be eating into diminished fish stocks, and fishermen's profits. But if the seal were an endangered species, saving each one would be critical from a conservationist's point of view. Unless, of course, releasing it back into the wild could further endanger the species, by introducing a novel pathogen acquired in a rehabilitation facility. The same seal, endangered or not, would be considered fair game by another endangered population, subsistence hunters, if it were found on a beach in Canada or Alaska.
And then there's the cost-factor debate: Should limited marine mammal protection funds be spent to rehabilitate animals, or to increase public education, law enforcement, or research activities?
Six marine mammal specialists have now called for an innovative method to help balance and sort out conflicting priorities involved in strandings and forge compromises among competing interests. In a review and position paper published in the October 2007 issue of the journal Marine Mammal Science, they outline a decision tree—a systematic framework to assess the risks, benefits, costs, and probabilities that branch out from various choices to euthanize, rehabilitate, and release stranded animals.
Joining together to make the proposal were a range of experts spanning research, conservation, veterinary medicine, public education, rehabilitation facilities, and regional stranding networks: Michael Moore (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), Greg Early (Mote Marine Laboratory), Kathleen Touhey (Cape Cod Stranding Network), Susan Barco (Virginia Aquarium), Frances Gulland (The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito), and Randall Wells (Chicago Zoological Society and Mote Marine Laboratory).
"Rehabilitation of stranded marine mammals elicits polarized attitudes," the authors wrote. "The challenge is to find the common ground and the greater good."
When success creates problems
Decades ago, few stranded animals could be saved, and those that could were generally placed in zoos and aquariums and displayed for public education. Over the last 25 years, though, veterinarians and curators learned more about marine mammal physiology and medicine, making it possible to keep more stranded animals alive. Eventually there were more stranded animals than there was display space to permanently house them.
"The issue is complex, but the math is simple," said co-author Early of the Mote Marine Laboratory. "One either releases animals, or stops admitting them."
Independent organizations that respond to strandings proliferated and now total more than 400 in the United States. When notified about stranded animals on public beaches, organizations must respond; doing nothing is usually not an option, from the perspective of animal or human welfare. They are faced with making choices about the animals on the spot, in situations that prompt strong public reactions.
Though governed by federal regulations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the stranding response groups mostly depend on local funding. As a consequence, they reflect local priorities, are not well-coordinated, and sometimes contradict each other's goals.
For example, saving a stranded dolphin can be gratifying to human responders, Moore and colleagues said, but the situation is more complex. Responders must also take into account whether nearby rehabilitation facilities exist; whether the animal could, or should, ever be released to the wild; whether the animal would suffer during treatment, and whether resources are available for a lifetime of ongoing care.
It has cost as much as $175,000 to rehabilitate a single dolphin, and between $400 and $50,000 to rehabilitate a seal, sea lion, or walrus, according to estimates cited by the researchers. Emotion-charged decisions to rehabilitate can lead organizations to begin to care for animals they have no assurance of funds to support or treat; Moore and colleagues suggest this is inappropriate. Even more difficult is weighing the relative benefits of spending limited funds on rehabilitating individuals, or on education, conservation, or research efforts.
Conflicts and contradictions
Making rehabilitate-or-release decisions more difficult is that some risks (transmitting pathogens to wild populations, for example) are supported by scientific data; some (seals competing with fishermen) are theoretical but unproven; and some—interfering with natural selection by releasing less-fit animals to reproduce, for example—are "perceived' risks unsupported by current data.
Further complicating the situation are the federal guidelines themselves. The federal agency charged with managing marine mammals—the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, part of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)—authorizes just three reasons for responding to marine mammal strandings: protecting animal welfare, protecting public health, and collecting scientific information to advance conservation of wild populations. But these justifications can compete: For example, NMFS is charged with protecting seals and sea lions, as well as preserving endangered salmon stocks that the marine mammals prey on. NMFS guidelines don't identify, or provide a way to decide, priorities.
Even the term "rehabilitation" is problematic, because many existing rehabilitation organizations do not agree on what it means, and federal regulations don't make the meaning clear, Moore and colleagues said. It can be interpreted as returning an animal to full health (which may not be possible, if the animal has other health problems), or returning it to basic functioning (which may not be wise, if the animal might suffer a slow death from a pre-existing condition). "The vagueness of even this most basic concept," the authors wrote, "adds to the conflicting values and options within which the stranding organizations work."
As a result, the authors wrote, "marine mammal rehabilitation is an effort that currently lacks a coherent central set of core values, ethics, or goals. After more than a quarter-century, the effort remains inconsistent, poorly supported, and fractious."
A method to make decisions
Hence the call for a decision tree—a cascading series of assessments and choices designed to "identify at what point an activity should cease because the cost or risk to subjects is too great to continue." Moore and colleagues called on federal managers to consult with veterinary, conservation, animal welfare, and other experts to develop clear ethical, scientific, and legal criteria for each decision branchpoint on the tree.
The tree would provide consistent guidelines for decisions and "remove the burden of inherently unpopular decisions from the responder and transfer it to government management agencies," they said. "Rehabilitation efforts should be evaluated on whether the likely benefits to science, nature, or knowledge outweigh the potential harm to individuals or populations."
"The issue of what's appropriate to do with mammals is hugely difficult," Moore said. "We have to take a hard look at the situation in the context of the real political pressures we're all under."
The WHOI Ocean Life Institute provided funding for Moore's work.


text:
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text:
Oracle SQL Developer 2.1
Oracle SQL Developer is a relatively new product included in the range of Oracle
products. It was first introduced to the world in September 2005, by its code name Project
Raptor. Raptor is a name many still cling to, despite being replaced very quickly with the
full product name, Oracle SQL Developer (and referred to in the rest of the book as SQL
Developer). The first production version was released in early 2006 and had many Oracle
customers both skeptical and excited.
SQL Developer is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for browsing and working with
databases. Primarily developed for the Oracle database, it also provides a GUifor a
selection of popular non-Oracle databases. As technology has evolved, many developers
are looking for modern tools to assist them in daily tasks. A clean, easy to navigate
interface is essential and many tools are judged on looks, performance, and functionality.
Initially billed as a light-weight, clean, easy to install GUifor the Oracle database, SQL
Developer is gaining momentum in the market and broadening its scope in its offering.
The skeptics mentioned are ever concerned that Oracle is not really interested in the
product, backing up this concern with the fact that SQL Developer is free. Disappointing
as it is that "free" is equated with "poor quality", the last couple of years have
considerably stilled many of these dissenting voices and the market using SQL Developer
continues to increase. Time will tell.
What This Book Covers
The book is designed to allow you to dip into any chapter that is your current area
of focus. Having said that, if you have never used SQL Developer before, are new to
Oracle and SQL, or have never used a GUitool before, we recommend that you read
the introduction, which gets you started slowly. You can then work through the first
few chapters in order. Once you have covered the first three chapters, you should be on
your way.
As the chapters progress, while they do not necessarily get more complex, they do rely to
some extent on existing knowledge. The latter portion of the book is not considered to be
more complex, but instead focuses on areas used by specific target audiences, such as
Oracle Application Express or migrating from non-Oracle databases.
We have loosely divided the book into the following three sections.
I: Getting started
The first few chapters introduce SQL Developer. Use them to get to know the layout of
the product and the essential features it provides. For those new to Oracle, or application
developers who spend the day using other development tools, these first few chapters
may be the only chapters needed.
In Chapter 1: Getting Started with Oracle SQL Developer, we provide general
information about SQL Developer, where you can find it, how to install it, and how to get
started. Using a simple example, you quickly walk through the product, touching a
variety of areas to get a feel for the navigation, the layout, and some of the features
available. We introduce the environment, how to navigate and manage the interface, the
database, and schemas used in this book. The chapter includes tips for customizing the
environment to suit your preferences.
In Chapter 2: Browsing and Editing Database Objects and Data, you will create, edit,
and update database objects, such as tables, views, sequences, and instance data (the data
in those tables), using data grids. You'll also learn how to access and use the utilities,
wizards, and dialogs, which SQL Developer provides, to work with data and database
objects. Lastly, you will use SQL commands and scripts, accessing the code formatter
and other assistants that separate a GUitool from a command–line environment.
In Chapter 3: Working with the SQL Worksheet, you see that the SQL Worksheet
provides a scratch pad for all SQL, PL/SQL, and SQL*Plus statements and commands. In
this chapter, you learn to work with the SQL Worksheet and the commands it supports,
how to use code insight, templates, snippets, and formatting code. You learn how to
manage the environment and to work with multiple worksheets. We introduce the Query
Builder and how to write, test, and run SQL queries using the Query Builder.
In Chapter 4: The Power of SQL Reports, you look at the variety of SQL reports
provided by SQL Developer, why they are useful in daily tasks, and how to run and use
them. You'll learn how to create your own reports, such as master-detail or drill-down
reports, and share your user-defined reports.
II: Delving a little deeper
These chapters are intended for all developers, perhaps more focused on those of you
who spend your days working with database objects and data. While not strictly advanced
features, there are areas here that can be more involved, and knowledge of how the tool
works will complement your existing knowledge of developing and working with code.
In Chapter 5: Working with PL/SQL, we start by reviewing various PL/SQL structures.
This chapter covers creating, editing, compiling, and debugging PL/SQL code. You'll see
how the various search tools work, and use code templates and snippets. You'll learn how
to refactor PL/SQL code, and search using the Oracle Database 11g PL/Scope feature.
Chapter 6: SQL and PL/SQL Tuning Tools. Although not designed to teach you how to
optimize your code, this chapter shows you the different utilities that SQL Developer
provides to help you see problem areas and work at fixing them. Utilities include using
Explain Plan, reviewing trace files, and auto trace.
In Chapter 7: Managing Files, you'll see that SQL Developer provides an integrated file
navigator that allows you to browse the file system and open files from within the tool.
This chapter introduces the file navigator and the features it supports. Working in
conjunction with the file navigator, SQL Developer integrates with open source version
control systems. This chapter discusses the alternatives and shows you how to place your
code under version control and work within a team sharing code, by comparing and
merging code.
In Chapter 8: Importing, Exporting, and Working with Data, you'll learn how SQL
Developer provides a number of utilities for moving or copying both the data structures
and the instance data between schemas and databases. This chapter introduces you to the
schema copy, diff, and export wizards and related export and import utilities.
III: Focus areas
The last few chapters are focused on specific audiences. We don't specifically cover
complex features, but there are aspects of some of these features that require knowledge
beyond the scope of this book.
In Chapter 9: Database Connections and JDBC Drivers, we'll look at the various types
of database connections available, how to set them up, and when to use them. We'll look
at various authentication methods, such as LDAP, OS authentication or strong
authentication methods like Kerberos, and compare Basic, TNS, and JDBC connections.
This chapter also looks at setting up the required JDBC drivers and creating connections
to non-Oracle databases. The chapter closes with a section on managing your
Chapter 10: Introducing SQL Developer Data Modeler. Whether you just want a diagram
of how your tables connect, or you want to build an entity relationship diagram,
transform that to a relational model, and generate the DDL script to create the objects in
your database, the SQL Developer Data Modeler provides the tools you need. This
chapter introduces some of the modeling utilities available in SQL Developer Data
Modeler. You'll also learn about the integration points with SQL Developer and the Data
Modeler Viewer in SQL Developer.
In Chapter 11: Extending SQL Developer, you'll see that SQL Developer is an extensible
tool. This means you, as an end user of the tool, can add in your own features. These may
be small, providing just a single input or output field, and only require XML and SQL
knowledge, while others are more extensive and require Java skills. This chapter reviews
the various ways you can extend SQL Developer using SQL and XML.
In Chapter 12: Working with Application Express, you'll see how SQL Developer
connects to and provides utilities for interacting with Application Express (Oracle
APEX). In this chapter, features you'll learn to use include setting up the environment to
work with Oracle APEX, importing, browsing, and deploying applications. You'll also
see how to tune and refactor SQL and PL/SQL code.
In Chapter 13: Working with SQL Developer Migrations, you'll understand how SQL
Developer helps you connect to and browse non-Oracle or third-party databases. This
chapter looks at preparing the SQL Developer environment, and browsing the supported
third-party databases. The focus of the chapter is on migrating from a third-party database
to Oracle, from setting up the repository, through the capture and conversion phases, and
ending with data migration. You'll also learn to translate pieces of code, such as
translating T-SQL to PL/SQL.
Standards and assumptions
Unless otherwise stated, the environment used in the examples and referred to throughout
the book is Oracle Database 11g Release 1, installed on Microsoft Windows XP. We use
the shipped Oracle sample schemas, in addition to using the SYSTEM and SYS users.
Oracle offers a free database, Oracle Express Edition 10g (XE), which you can download
and use for many of the examples. Some of the discussion is related to new Oracle
Database 11g functionality that is not available on any Oracle Database 10g release,
including XE. In the case where the feature is Oracle Database 11g specific, the text will
indicate this. However, the text does not list anomalies for each database version.
This book was written using and is based on Oracle SQL Developer 2.1. Screenshots and
menu items all refer to SQL Developer 2.1 and were accurate at the time of writing,
completed just prior to the production release of the software. Minor differences are
inevitable due to changes in the later stages of product development prior to production.
You can also use the book, and much of the content, as a guide for working with earlier
releases of SQL Developer. Where they are significant, we make note of the differences
in features that have changed from earlier releases.
Getting Started with SQL Developer
This book is divided into chapters that focus on the different areas or functionality
in SQL Developer. The progression through the chapters is from the more frequently
used features to those less frequently used. This initial chapter is all about preparing
your environment, installation, and getting started.
SQL Developer is easy to set up and use, so there is very little setup required to
follow the examples in this book. The best way to learn is by practice, and for that
you'll need a computer with access to an Oracle database and SQL Developer.
This chapter, and indeed the rest of the book, assumes you have a computer with
Microsoft Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X installed, and that you have access to
an Oracle database. It focuses on the alternative installations available for SQL
Developer, where to find the product, and how to install it. Once your environment
is set up, you can follow a quick product walk-through to familiarize yourself with
the landscape. You'll create a few connections, touch on the various areas available
(such as the SQL Worksheet and Reports navigator), and learn about the control
of the windows and general product layout.
Preparing your environment
Preparing your environment depends on a few factors, including the platform you
are working on and whether you have an early edition of SQL Developer previously
installed. First, you need to locate the software, download, and install it.
Finding and downloading the software
SQL Developer is available through a variety of sources as both a standalone
download and as part of the Oracle Database and Oracle JDeveloper installations.
SQL Developer is a free product, and you can download it from the Oracle
Technology Network, http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/
sql_developer. Use this link to reach the download for the latest standalone
production release. It also includes details of the release and is regularly updated
with news of preview releases and new articles. While SQL Developer is free to
download and use, you are required to read and agree to the license before you can
proceed with the download. The product also falls under Oracle Support contracts,
if you have a Support contract for the database, which means that you can log Oracle
Support tickets.
Downloading and installing the Java Development Kit
SQL Developer requires the Java SE Development Kit (JDK) ; this includes the Java
Runtime Environment (JRE) and other tools, which are used by SQL Developer
utilities such as the PL/SL Debugger.
For Microsoft Windows, you can download and install SQL Developer with the JDK
already installed. This means you'll download and unzip the product and will be
ready to start, as there are no extra steps required. For the other operating systems,
you'll need to download the JDK and direct SQL Developer to the path yourself.
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text:
SYNOD: Bishop Geoffrey Robinson: Sexual Ethics Should Be Based on Jesus' Teaching
Here in Rome, where church officials are preparing for the opening of the extraordinary synod on marriage and family today, the mood is high, and many people here are saying, that it's really difficult to say what the outcome of the meeting will be. There is much hope for change in many of the issues concerning marriage, family, sexuality, but many people are saying that the composition of the synod participants, the fact that the process of this synod–including the request for input from the laity–and how influential in which direction Pope Francis will be all make it difficult to predict outcomes.
One bishop's voice was heard loudly and clearly in Rome in the last few days, not by church leaders, but by Catholic LGBT people and ally advocates. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary of Sydney, Australia, spoke at the Ways Of Love conference on pastoral care with LGBT people, about which we posted yesterday. The gathering in Rome was to discuss new possible approaches to LGBT people that the synod could take. Bishop Robinson, who many readers may remember spoke at New Ways Ministry's Seventh National Symposium in 2012, outlined a new approach to sexual ethics for the Church that would recognize the goodness and holiness of same-sex committed relationships. His talk was a highlight of the conference, and I will try to outline some of the main points below.
Bishop Robinson began by dismantling some of the crippling assumptions that underline current church teaching, most particularly the idea that sexual sins are among the most grievous that humans might commit:
"Striking a king or president has always been considered a more serious offence than striking an ordinary citizen. In line with this, it was said, the greatest king by far is God, so an offence against God is far more serious than an offence against a mere human being.
"Because all sexual sins were seen as direct offences against God, they were, therefore, all seen as most serious sins. Sexual sins were seen as on the same level as the other sin that is directly against God, blasphemy, and this helps to explain why, in the Catholic Church, sexual morality has long been given a quite exaggerated importance.
"For centuries the Church has taught that every sexual sin is a mortal sin. In this field, it was held, there are no venial sins. . . .
"This teaching fostered belief in an incredibly angry God, for this God would condemn a person to an eternity in hell for a single unrepented moment of deliberate pleasure arising from sexual desire. This idea of God is totally contrary to the entire idea of God that Jesus presented to us, and I cannot accept it.
"My first rebellion against Church teaching on sex came, therefore, not directly from a rejection of what the Church said about sex, but a rejection of the false god that this teaching presented."
Robinson also objected to the presumption that the Church's sexual ethics should be based on judging the solely of sexual acts:
". . . [T]he teaching of the Church is based on a consideration of what is seen as the God-given nature of the physical acts in themselves, rather than on these acts as actions of human beings. And it continues to do this at a time when the whole trend in moral theology is in the opposite direction.
"As a result it gets into impossible difficulties in analysing physical acts without a context of human relations. For example, some married couples find that there is a blockage preventing the sperm from reaching the ovum, but that in a simple procedure a doctor can take the husband's sperm and insert it into the wife in such a way that is passes the blockage and enables conception. But the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemned this action because the physical act was not considered "integral", even though the entire reason for this intervention was precisely that the couple wanted their marriage to be both unitive and procreative.
"The Church's arguments concerning sex are based solely on the physical act in itself rather than on the physical act as an action affecting persons and relationships."
Focusing in on lesbian and gay sexuality in particular, Robinson challenged the presumption of "natural law theory" opposing same-gender relationships:
"It was God who created a world in which there are both heterosexuals and homosexuals. This was not a mistake on God's part that human beings are meant to repair; it is simply an undeniable part of God's creation.
"The only sexual acts that are natural to homosexuals are homosexual acts. This is not a free choice they have made between two things that are equally attractive to them, but something that is deeply embedded in their nature, something they cannot simply cast aside. Homosexual acts come naturally to them, heterosexual acts do not. They cannot perform what the Church would call 'natural' acts in a way that is natural to them.
"Why should we turn to some abstraction in determining what is natural rather than to the actual lived experience of human beings? Why should we say that homosexuals are acting against nature when they are acting in accordance with the only nature they have ever experienced?
"The Church claims that it is basing itself on 'natural law,' but a natural law based on abstractions is a false natural law. Indeed, it brings the whole concept of natural law into disrepute."
The bishop began an outline of a new basis for sexual ethics, based more on the teachings of Jesus than on any other outside philosophical theory. He began this section of his talk by quoting Scripture:
" 'If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea' (Mk.9:42).
" 'Then they will answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?" Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'"(Mt.25:44-45)
"In these two quotations Jesus identifies with the weakest persons in the community, and tells us that any harm done to them is a harm done to himself.
"I suggest that this harm done to people is the real sin in matters of sex, the only sin that angers God.
"I suggest, therefore, that we should look at sexual morality in terms of the good or harm done to persons and the relationships between them rather than in terms of a direct offence against God.
"Following from this, may we say that sexual pleasure, like all other pleasure, is in itself morally neutral, neither good nor bad? Is it rather the circumstances affecting persons and relationships that make this pleasure good or bad, e.g. a good pleasure for a married couple seeking reconciliation after a disagreement, a bad pleasure for a man committing rape?"
After critiquing a reigning ethic of sex in the contemporary world that only cautions people to "do no harm," Bishop Robinson supplies an ethic based more on the commandment to love our neighbor:
"I suggest that the central questions concerning sexual morality are: Are we moving towards a genuinely Christian ethic if we base our sexual actions on a profound respect for the relationships that give meaning, purpose and direction to human life, and on loving our neighbour as we would want our neighbour to love us?
"Within this context, may we ask whether a sexual act is morally right when, positively, it is based on a genuine love of neighbour, that is, a genuine desire for what is good for the other person, rather than solely on self-interest, and, negatively, contains no damaging elements such as harm to a third person, any form of coercion or deceit, or any harm to the ability of sex to express love? . . . .
"Many would object that what I have proposed would not give a clear and simple rule to people. But God never promised us that everything in the moral life would be clear and simple. Morality is not just about doing right things; it is also about struggling to know what is the right thing to do. It is not just about doing what everyone else around us is doing; it is about taking a genuine personal responsibility for everything we do. And it is about being profoundly sensitive to the needs and vulnerabilities of the people with whom we interact."
To catch all of Bishop Robinson's nuances, examples, and explanations, I urge all who are interested in this topic to read his entire text which can be found on the conference's website. You will be enriched by reading all of Bishop Robinson's nuances, examples, and explanations, as well as additional arguments.
As the synod opens today, I pray that other bishops will listen to voices like Bishop Robinson's, whose approach to all sexuality is so rooted in the teachings of Jesus.
–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry


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text:
Reading and video by Tom O'Bedlam. The full text of Keats' Endymion may be read herehere:
The paintings are:
"Sleeping Endymion", by Nicolas Guy Brenet, 1756
"Sleeping Endymion" by Pietro Liberi, c1660
"Selene and Endymion" by Nicolas Poussin, 1630
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.
Nor do we merely feel these essences
For one short hour; no, even as the trees
That whisper round a temple become soon
Dear as the temple's self, so does the moon,
The passion poesy, glories infinite,
Haunt us till they become a cheering light
Unto our souls, and bound to us so fast
That, whether there be shine or gloom o'ercast,
They always must be with us, or we die.


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Insurers Push Boundaries of Social Media Use in Claims, Underwriting
It's hard to deny that social networking sites will remain popular in the forseeable future. The personal-profile paradigm has rolled through Friendster and Myspace to the current platform of choice, Facebook, over the past decade or so. The amount of personal data users put on these profiles is astounding. Online photo cataloger 1000Memories caused a stir earlier this year when it released an infographic that compared the sheer volume of the 140 billion photos on Facebook to that of the Library of Congress, which 1000Memories estimated has far less than 1 percent of that amount of data.
When placed in public areas of users' profiles, these photos -- not to mention location information and personal statements in status updates -- represent data insurers can potentially use for claims and underwriting purposes. Boston-based consultancy Celent recently released a study, "Using Social Data in Claims and Underwriting: Creating a Social Risk Profile," that examines how insurers are using this data, and how policyholders and regulators could respond.
"It's still the Wild Wild West right now," Celent analyst Mike Fitzgerald tells I&T. "We're not quite sure how it's going to be handled by regulators."
Regulators are likely to respond to concerns from consumers, but consumers may not like what they hear, adds Celent's Craig Beattie, who notes that social network users often don't realize exactly what's in the terms and conditions of the websites to which they post. "People have typically already waived their rights to privacy if they've agreed to the terms and conditions of the website," he says. "If [information] is posted in the public, it's up for grabs and legal to use it."
Shades of Gray: Fraud vs. Underwriting
Regulators and the public are likely to have different views on various uses of social media by insurance companies, Fitzgerald contends. If an insurer uncovers an instance of claims fraud based off of publicly available information -- without using clandestine means to acquire it -- it's unlikely that regulators or the public would object, he suggests. "If it's used for claims to ferret out fraud, the initial case law is very favorable to using it," Fitzgerald says. "It's unlikely the regulators would stand in the way of it."
The Value of ComplianceAfter years of reacting slowly to regulatory demands, insurers are realizing that compliance can provide business value rather than simply sap IT resources. Download our December digital issue to learn more.
It's when insurance companies talk about mining social networks for underwriting that consumers and regulators are likely to get uneasy, Fitzgerald and Beattie agree. In addition to concerns around expectations of privacy, the quality of the risk profile created by such data could be called into question. "It's just not reliable enough to use for pricing," Fitzgerald argues. "It would be very difficult to actuarially base a pricing decision off social data."
However, there is a gray area, Fitzgerald notes. Social data might expose a risk against which a policyholder might want to be insured, but doesn't realize that his or her existing coverage does not apply. For example, Fitzgerald relates, a commercial insurer found a commercial on YouTube from one of its small-business customers, a contractor that was only insured as a general contractor. The commercial, however, touted the company's roofing services -- coverage for which was not included in its policy. The underwriter contacted the company and brought the coverage in line with the additional exposures related to roofing.
"How can a regulator object to an underwriter ferreting out a different operation and reclassifying a risk?" Fitzgerald asks. "If that contractor faced a liability suit related to roofing, who knows how big that could have been?"
Do Me No Harm
It is unlikely that consumers and regulators would accept the use of social data for underwriting purposes unless it was strictly beneficial, Beattie suggests. It would have to follow a model similar to most pay-as-you-drive programs that use telematics devices: If you turn data over to your carrier, your rate can only go down.
Right now, the practice of using social media content for fraud prevention and underwriting still is in its infancy, and so is its regulation. NAIC president Susan Voss tells I&T that her organization is "just starting" to look at the issue.
According to Celent's Fitzgerald, it could be some time before regulators catch up to insurers, which are just beginning to explore this themselves. "They're under a huge amount of stress with staffing and budget issues," Fitzgerald notes of regulators. "They don't really have the capacity to look at this when they have to keep up with rate change and other day-to-day activities."
Next Page: Ethical Guideposts for Using Social Media Data
Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio


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april, 2018
Event Details
ALL TICKETS HAVE BEEN CLAIMED FOR THIS EVENT Join Eve Payor from Atlantic Center for the Arts
Event Details
Join Eve Payor from Atlantic Center for the Arts as she leads a soundwalk through the beautiful Mennello Museum lakeside Sculpture Garden. Explore the sounds and rhythms of our urban and natural world. Each walk is beneficial for people of all ages to de-stress, focus, and develop a deeper understanding of how we fit into the ecosystem of our environment.
Free, and open to the public. Limited to 20 participants. RSVP to secure your spot. 11AM – meet at the entrance of The Mennello Museum of American Art
Please register via Eventbrite: https://
What is a soundwalk?
"A soundwalk is any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment. It is exposing our ears to every sound around us no matter where we are. We may be at home, we may be walking across a downtown street, through a park, along the beach; we may be sitting in a doctor's office, in a hotel lobby, in a bank; we may be shopping in a supermarket, a department store, or a Chinese grocery store; we may be standing at the airport, the train station, the bus-stop. Wherever we go we will give our ears priority. They have been neglected by us for a long time and, as a result, we have done little to develop an acoustic environment of good quality." – Hildegard Westerkamp (published in Sound Heritage, 1974)
How can a soundwalk improve health?
Focused, silent walks can be a key to reducing stress levels, anxiety, distractions, and can improve breath control. Our sense of hearing is heightened, and awareness of our connection to nature is enhanced. Concentrating on the sound environment links us to the risk of noise pollution and solutions to create an ecologically balanced soundscape. Taking the time to listen to our surroundings gives us a deeper understanding of how our everyday actions affect both nature and our well-being.
How much walking will there be?
Each soundwalk is designed to move through different sound environments. We will be walking at a slow pace to allow for time to fully hear each location. Over the duration of one hour, a distance of approximately ½ mile will be traveled.
Rain or shine?
Yes. These walks are outdoors. Please check the weather before departing for the soundwalk, and prepare accordingly. Weather conditions affect the way sound travels. It is a wonderful experience to hear how the sound waves of a bird call in humid air travels differently than in dry air.
Are the soundwalks open to all ages?
Anyone can participate in a soundwalk. On our walks, we do ask that talking and distraction (cellphone use) be kept to a minimum to allow for the enjoyment of the environmental sounds. Therefore, small children may not be engaged enough in this activity to avoid becoming restless.
About the Artist
The presenter of each Soundwalk is local musician, Lady Eve. She is a classical oboist and ambient music producer who has contributed to the sophisticated modern movement blending orchestral and electronic sound. She has performed at the Mutek Mexico Festival, 800 East Atlanta Art Collective, been a curator at Vancouver's alternative performance festival: Signal & Noise, and produced her Pan Ambient event series with Seattle's Decibel Festival. Last year, her exhibition called Watercolors in Sound (produced for Atlantic Center for the Arts) featured a sound and video installation of field recordings from the NSB Soundwalk series. As an active Zazen practitioner, Lady Eve incorporates mindfulness and awareness throughout her artistic endeavors. www.ladyeve.ca
(Saturday) 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Mennello Museum
900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32832
Mennello Museum


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This Sunday, May 20th, we'll receive two coupon inserts in our newspapers:
1 SmartSource
1 RedPlum
Head over to Sunday Coupon Preview to take a look at the coupons that may be inside. As always, coupon inserts do vary from region to region, so you might receive different values of some coupons. You might not get some at all.


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SRD:War Domain
From Dungeons and Dragons Wiki
This material is published under the OGL |
War Domain[edit]
Granted Power: Free Martial Weapon Proficiency with deity's favored weapon (if necessary) and Weapon Focus with the deity's favored weapon.
War Domain Spells
- Magic Weapon: Weapon gains +1 bonus.
- Spiritual Weapon: Magical weapon attacks on its own.
- Magic Vestment: Armor or shield gains +1 enhancement per four levels.
- Divine Power: You gain attack bonus, +6 to Str, and 1 hp/level.
- Flame Strike: Smite foes with divine fire (1d6/level damage).
- Blade Barrier: Wall of blades deals 1d6/level damage.
- Power Word Blind: Blinds creature with 200 hp or less.
- Power Word Stun: Stuns creature with 150 hp or less.
- Power Word Kill: Kills creature with 100 hp or less.
Back to Main Page → System Reference Document → Spells → Cleric Domains


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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Oct. 31) – The GEICO Motorcycle Honda team and Team Hammer on Thursday selected Jake Zemke as its GoPro Daytona SportBike rider for the 2014 AMA Pro Road Racing Series season.
"I'm just really excited to be a part of the program and get the ball rolling," Zemke said. "I wish we were rolling to Daytona right now to go racing. The off-season will definitely be a little bit long for me. I'm looking forward to getting on the track as soon as possible.
"Collectively we've got quite a few years of experience on Hondas, and it's always great to get back on a bike you are comfortable riding. I'm definitely looking forward to putting some of my Honda knowledge to the test and help apply it to the team."
Team owner Chris Ulrich said the veteran rider will contribute a lot to the team both on and off the track.
"Jake is a guy we've been watching for a long time," Ulrich said. "He has won a lot of races during his career. We're excited to bring his talent, experience, and technical knowledge to our team. He's going to be a big asset to our entire organization.
"He is really going help us tap the full potential of the Honda CBR600RR in Daytona SportBike. We've made a lot of progress in a short period of time and Jake will bring us even further along."
Zemke raced on Hondas earlier in his career and is looking forward to the opportunity to bring Big Red back to the forefront of American road racing.
"At the races during the last couple of seasons I've had a lot of fans come up and say, 'We'd love to see you back on a Honda,' " Zemke said. "So it's really exciting to be able to get back onto a Honda. The GEICO Motorcycle program has been really strong, and they've done a great job and been one of the benchmark teams. They've won the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike championship twice in the last three seasons.
"This team has obviously done a great job over the years with other brands, and they're just starting to scratch the surface with the Honda. I think there's definitely a lot more to come with their work ethic and a little bit of knowledge on my end. I think we should be good and really be able to go out there and fight for podiums and race wins."
The season will start on March 15, 2014, with the 73rd running of the Daytona 200 at Daytona International Raceway.


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This Week In Golf: DeChambeau Wins Dell Technologies, Leads FedExCup
Bryson DeChambeau does not turn 25 years old until September 16, but over the last two weekends, he has played with more experience and wisdom than his age would suggest. After a four-shot win last week in The Northern Trust, he managed a similar feat at the Dell Technologies Championship, winning by two strokes over Justin Rose. He's now staked himself to a commanding points lead in the FedExCup playoffs.
Coming into the 2017-18 PGA Tour season, DeChambeau had one career win on Tour -- the 2017 John Deere Classic. He added the Memorial to his resume in June. Now, after taking the Dell Technologies at TPC Boston with a 16-under-par effort, DeChambeau has doubled his career-victory total and set himself up as the golfer to beat at the upcoming BMW Championship. He also holds a commanding lead in the FedExCup points standings.
It was quite the rollercoaster ride at the top of the leaderboard for all four rounds. Justin Rose took the first-round lead on Friday, firing a 65 to finish at 6-under par. That gave him a one-shot lead over Abraham Ancer and Russell Knox, and left three international golfers atop the leaderboard. However, there was a fourth-place tie among four American golfers, on the heels of the leaders at 4-under. This group included 2011 PGA Championship victor, Keegan Bradley.
A different American grabbed the lead on Saturday in the second road, however; Webb Simpson posted a 63 to take the top spot overall on the board at 11-under par. Rose made 67 to stay one stroke behind at 10-under, along with his countryman Tyrrell Hatton, who matched Simpson's low round of the day. Rounding out the top four was another Englishman, Tommy Fleetwood, after he shot 65 to come in at 8-under par overall.
By the end of Sunday's third round, there was a little more international diversity on the leaderboard as Spain's Ancer vaulted to the lead at 13-under with a round of 65. He held a one-shot lead over Hatton and DeChambeau, whose 63, the round of the day, put him in contention. Smith and Rose were tied for fourth place, just two shots behind the leader.
At one point Monday afternoon, there was a five-way tie atop the leaderboard at 13-under par with DeChambeau, Ancer, Hatton, Rafael Cabrera Bello and Emiliano Grillo all vying for the tournament victory. DeChambeau, however, steeled himself, making five birdies on the front nine to pull away from the pack and claim the win with a final-round 67.
Rose posted a 68 to finish second at 14-under, while Cameron Smith shot 69 to finish third at 13-under. As for the other four golfers briefly tied at the top in the final round, Ancer, Bello, and Grillo each finished tied for seventh at 11-under, while Hatton dropped to a 12th-place tie at 10-under par.
DeChambeau, with a 2,328-point lead over second-place Dustin Johnson, could skip the BMW Championship and still be the points leader at the Tour Championship. He won't sit out the next tournament, of course. The young American has a great chance to win the FedExCup, already serving notice that he's yet another young gun on the rise on the PGA Tour.
>>MORE: This Week In Golf
Next On The Tee: BMW Championship
The Tour is now down to its final 70 players in the FedExCup chase, as the best golfers on Tour head to Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, and the Aronimink Golf Club for the BMW Championship. This is the first time this event has been held on this course, which hosted the PGA Championship in 1962 and is scheduled to do so again in 2027. Marc Leishman won this event last year, posting a five-stroke victory over both Rickie Fowler and Rose at the Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Although the tournament itself used to be called the Western Open and dates back to 1899, the BMW Championship has been a part of the FedExCup since 2007. Therefore, most of the past champions of the BMW event are still playing well enough to be in the field this week, starting with Thursday's first round. Dustin Johnson (2010, 2016) and Tiger Woods (2007, 2009) have each won the BMW twice, while Leishman, Jason Day (2015), Billy Horschel (2014), and Zach Johnson (2013) have qualified. Also in the field, of course, are Rory McIlroy (2012) and Rose (2011). Only 2008 winner Camilo Villegas won't be playing this time.
The course for the BMW Championship this year was originally designed by Donald Ross in the 1920s and restored in 2003 to resemble its original design and intent. The course record was set in 2011 by Nick Watney, who posted a 62 during the AT&T National on his way to a victory in that event. The BMW Championship records are held by Leishman, who posted 261 and 23-under par last year in his victory. Dustin Johnson also finished at 23-under in his 2016 victory at the BMW Championship.
The Aronimink Golf Club course plays 7,327 yards long and is a par 70.
Favorites: Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose, Cameron Smith
Players to Watch: Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods
Sam McPherson is a freelance writer covering baseball, football, basketball, golf and fantasy sports for CBS Local. He also is an Ironman triathlete and certified triathlon coach. Follow him on Twitter @sxmcp, because he's quite prolific despite also being a college English professor and a certified copy editor.
for more features.


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God, Make Us Desperate!
A few days ago I listened to a sermon by a man who is preparing to lead a missionary team that will plant itself into one of the least reached nations in the world.
The most optimistic estimates of the number of indigenous Christians in this nation is less than the number of people who attend Bethlehem Baptist Church on a Sunday morning. A lot less.
Listening to him was like listening to the writer of Hebrews. This man knows what he's getting into. He's planted a church in this nation already. The cost to follow Jesus in this nation is high. A good week is when no one in the church has been beaten.
These brothers and sisters are experiencing a "hard struggle with sufferings" (Hebrews 10:32). There are beatings, property plundering, heresies, divisions, and immorality. Most church troubles we read about in the Epistles, they have it.
Listening to this missionary left most of us American Christians wondering if we'd be able to hack it. And that's unnerving.
The New Testament teaches us that whether or not our treasure is really in heaven is most clearly seen when it costs us our earthly treasures in order to obtain it. But American Christians live in the most prosperous nation in world history and the one in which it costs the least to be a Christian.
This environment can be deadly to faith. It allows false faith to masquerade as real very easily. And its power to dissipate zeal and energy and mission-focus and willingness to risk is extraordinary because it doesn't come to us with a whip and a threat. It comes to us with a pillow and a promise of comfort for us and our children. The former makes us desperate for God. The latter robs our sense of desperation.
And it's the lack of a sense of desperation for God that is so deadly. If we don't feel desperate for God, we don't tend to cry out to him. Love for this present world sets in subtly, like a spiritual leprosy, damaging spiritual nerve endings so that we don't feel the erosion and decay happening until it's too late.
So we must fast and pray for and support the suffering church in the diseases that can set in from harsh adversity. But we must also fast and pray for God to deliver us from the diseases that set in from prosperity. We need him. We can discipline ourselves in various ways. But we cannot manufacture our own desperation. Only God can make us desperate for him.
So God, whatever it takes, increase our awareness of our dependence on you in everything! Keep us desperate for you so that the deceitfulness of sin does not harden our hearts (Hebrews 3:13). In Jesus' name, amen.


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There's no doubt: it's a snow drought, and records are falling like…well, like snowflakes should be falling.
- Wednesday we broke the record number of days without a 1-inch snowfall (319).
- Last weekend we broke the 1940 record of 313 straight days with less than 1 inch of snow on the ground.
- Just 1.3 inches of snow (more near the lake) has fallen to date, compared to the norm of 11 inches.
It made us wonder: what does a snow drought mean for your garden?
To find out, we talked with Boyce Tankersley, our director of living plant documentation.
What Snow Drought Can Do to Your Garden
It's easy to give snow drought the brush-off (no shoveling! no scraping! no wet feet!), but it can damage your plants and affect the soil in your garden. The following can happen in a drought:
1. Moisture loss accelerates. "It's the combination of no snow cover plus cold winter wind that does the damage," Tankersley explains. "When there's no snow, plants act like a wick in the soil, so the wind not only dries out the trees and shrubs, but also the soil they're planted in."
2. Soil compacts. In a normal year in the Chicago area, it rains in November, so the moist ground freezes as temperatures drop. Ice crystals form in the soil. As winter progresses, snow piles up, preventing wind from reaching the frozen moisture in the ground. With spring thaws, ground ice melts, creating air pockets and naturally looser soil. In short, Tankersley says, "winter is good for gardens." Without that rain/freeze/thaw cycle, air spaces can't form in the soil, so it collapses and compacts, requiring mechanical tilling to loosen it up again.
3. Plants get stressed beyond capacity. In 2012, plants endured an early spring with a late frost, followed by summer and fall drought, and now, snow drought. There's a real risk of winterkill—the term used when plants succumb to winter conditions. "Check trees and shrubs for buds in early May," Tankersley suggests, "especially nonnatives like Magnolia soulangeana, which is particularly susceptible to winterkill." Even well-established, old trees can succumb—forever changing yards and neighborhoods.
What You Can Do to Help Your Garden
On mild days when temperatures are above freezing, Tankersley's strategies for home gardeners include the following:
1. Mulch. Like a thick blanket, mulch holds in moisture and creates a layer of insulation for soil. Tankersley's choice in his own yard? Oak leaf mulch. Why? "The leaves decay slowly, so they release nutrients into the soil over time." Other options: chopped up plant material from your yard (non-diseased, please), or scattered straw.
2. Add native plants in spring. Natives are already naturally adapted to outside-of-the-bell-curve extremes, with some sporting roots 15 to 20 feet deep. Compare that to a typical landscape plant with roots just 6 inches deep.
©2013 Chicago Botanic Garden and my.chicagobotanic.org


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Susan D. Mayes, Ph. D.
Age Range: 1-17 years
Time: 15 minutes
Qualification Level: B
The CASD offers a quick, valid means of screening for, and diagnosing, children with Autism, regardless of age, IQ or Autism severity. It consists of a comprehensive list of 30 symptoms of Autism, scored as present (either currently, or in the past) or absent, based on a semi-structured interview with the parent; information from the child's teacher or child care provider; observations of the child, and other available records.
Studies show the CASD differentiates children with Autism from those with ADHD with 99.5 per cent accuracy, and from typical children with 100 per cent accuracy. It is equally effective in identifying children who have Autism and normal, or below normal, intelligence.
The CASD covers all core and associated symptoms of Autism.
The 30 CASD symptoms are grouped in six domains:
- Problems with social interaction
- Perseveration
- Somatosensory disturbance
- Atypical communication and development
- Mood and disturbance
- Problems with attention and safety
CASD Advantages
Appropriate for all levels of intelligence
- Appropriate for toddlers through adolescence
- Simple and brief
- Provides information for diagnostic reports and treatment plans
- Clinically practical and cost-effective
- Useful for screening and diagnosis
- No extensive training required
- No test materials, software or scoring templates
Excellent Reliability and Validity
- Excellent congruence with DSM-IV-based clinical diagnoses
- 90% clinician/parent agreement
- High diagnostic agreement with other Autism instruments, including 98 percent with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS-page 46), and 93 percent with the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R-page 49).
The standardisation sample included more than 1,000 children with Autism (1-17 years of age, IQs of 9-146), over 500 typical children, and children with other diagnostic groups (e.g., ADHD). All children in the Autism group had a total CASD score at, or above, the Autism cutoff of 15, which is the cutoff for both high- and low-functioning Autism. Scores of 10-14 are in the Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) range.
The CASD Kit includes the Manual and Interview Forms. Optional DVDs are available, demonstrating CASD administration, scoring and differential diagnosis with parents of children who have high-functioning and low-functioning Autism, Anxiety and ADHD with Behaviour Problems.


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This article informs the reader about outdoor room options and the amenities that can be included.
luxury, home, home improvement, outdoor, patio, lifestyle
For the best Waterproofing Long Island company, call ProStyle Paving And Masonry.
To find the best Waterproofing Long Island company, click here for ProStyle Paving And Masonry.
As the controversial real estate bubble tumbles toward its imminent burst, homeowners look for new ways to increase their home's value. In the past, you could slap some paint on a wall and bam, instant home improvement. As more and more people choose to spend time at home versus going out, they want their homes, or at least certain areas, to feel like a retreat – their own private oasis.
According to research from the Propane Education & Research Council PERC, 35 percent of homeowners surveyed currently have a finished outdoor room and one in three of those homeowners who do not 34 percent plan to design and furnish an outdoor room by spring 2007. When you apply this data to everyone, more than half of United States homes could have an outdoor entertaining area some time next year.
We are seeing a big trend in people investing in the outdoor living areas, said Leslie Wheeler, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association Director of Communication. With more people looking for ways to enhance their homes, it isn't surprising that they are turning to their backyards, decks and patios. Homeowners want all the conveniences of an indoor kitchen outdoors such as an island complete with refrigerator, grill, sink and countertop surface.
There are wonderful products on the market today to extend the outdoor living season and make outdoor living comfortable and enjoyable. Most consumers who invest in an outdoor living and entertaining area think that their investment with yield a return, should they decide to sell their home or borrow against it. Industry professionals interviewed for Designing Out: The Home Lifestyle Report agree that a home's outdoor space can add as much as 30 percent to the total value of a property.
Lifestyle factors are also driving consumer demand for outdoor living spaces, with 50 percent of survey respondents saying they spend more time at home than they did five years ago. Survey respondents also said that relaxation and wanting to spend more time outside were the primary drivers for an outdoor room, with entertaining coming in a surprising last among the top five reasons listed.
If you're just hearing about this trend and are not sure where to start, Katherine Whiteside, best-selling garden and cookbook author advises people to start simply. By definition, an outdoor room is simply an outdoor area that homeowners can use for relaxing, cooking and entertaining, said Whiteside. By adding some furniture and propane appliances to an existing patio, garden or deck, you have the beginnings of a great outdoor room.
When planning your outside room, Whiteside recommends paying attention to your climate.
Think about protection from the elements: sun, rain and cold. Use a market umbrella or a canopy hung with mosquito netting to protect yourself from sun and rain. But what happens when the evenings get cold? Consider a propane tabletop heater. At 3 feet tall, they can heat up to 5 feet in diameter. Outdoor Leisure just came out with a spectacular Bistro Tabletop Heater with a hammered bronze powder finish. The same company also offers a gas light patio heater. If you have the space, install a propane fire pit, which can be used during spark bans and is marvelous for putting your feet up while stargazing.
Protection from the elements leads right into comfort. You have to be warm, said Whiteside, so think about installing a porch floor with propane radiant heating. You need a place to sit down, so think about comfortable furniture. And if you live in an area near water, bugs are a consideration. A propane mosquito chaser can keep pesky insects away from you and your guests.
No outdoor room would be complete without a place to dine and a grill. Today's propane grills come with all sorts of accessories that make creating appetizers and a main course a snap. You can get a rotisserie, a grill with a burner next to it, even woks. And, if you have three or more propane-fueled appliances, consider putting in an underground tank, so there are no unsightly above-ground tanks and you won't have to worry about running out of fuel during your backyard party.
The industry's top-selling appliances in the outdoor living category mirror the preferences of PERC's survey respondents and Whiteside's suggestions. After outdoor lighting 94 percent, other propane appliances dominate the list of must-have accessories: 86 percent of those surveyed said gas grills and mosquito eliminators were a necessity, followed by outdoor fireplaces 67 percent and patio heaters 53 percent.
Whether you live in a shoebox or a Mediterranean oceanfront mansion, outdoor rooms have taken the forefront and summer is the perfect time to clean up your backyard and transform it into an outdoor living space where your children can play and you can relax or entertain friends. One ay to improve the value of the backyard is to add an attractive and functional structure, such as a gazebo, pavilion, poolside cabana, or playhouse – even a yoga hut, artist's studio, dog house, music practice room, hobby workshop, or any other private retreat.
Another possibility is to build a backyard home office, away from the distractions of the house.
No matter how large or small your yard, a water garden, pond or fountain is a great way to create a tranquil getaway just feet away from your back door.
Steve Sandalis, owner of Mystic Water Gardens in Los Angeles who has a large celebrity following, believes adding a water feature brings a peaceful element to any backyard, and in his opinion,the bigger, the better. Consider making your water feature bigger, he said, allowing it to meander through the backyard rather than being tucked away in the corner. It will create a stunning environment in which to live and relax.
Before you buy materials, determine the size of the water feature you want. Steve suggests going a little bigger than what you think will be the right size because once the landscaping grows and fills in, your water feature shrinks. To create a low maintenance water feature construct your feature that is essential an ecosystem that works with Mother Nature and not against it. The water features that we build use a biological filter and a mechanical skimmer that cuts down on the maintenance, Sandalis said.
Create a water feature that is placed strategically in the yard so you can view it from the inside, creating year-round enjoyment. If you have children and concerned about water safety, Sandalis recommends a pondless waterfall. We create features with very little depth, making it much safer for the entire family to enjoy. Water plants add a natural touch to water features. Sandalis says to keep the water clean from algae because plants absorb nutrients in the water.
When it comes to outdoor furnishings, not all products are created equally. Some are designed for specific climates and are more durable than others. You can spend a little or a lot. With so many options, and every manufacturer claiming their product is high-end and the best on the market, making a decision is nerve-wracking. We've taken the guesswork out of planning your backyard entertaining area or retreat with these luxury picks
As we move into fall, a heater will allow you to enjoy your outdoor space even longer. We like these brand-new, patio and tabletop lantern heaters from Outdoor Leisure that are heads and tails better than the usual mushroom heaters.
Cal Flame MC700 We love the Cal Flame MC700 barbecue island. It's a part of the Master Chef Series, which is designed for the frequent barbecue cook who requires bar seating and counter space for dining and entertaining. The Series is mid-priced with numerous options that enable the consumer to create a convenient outdoor kitchen facility. The MC700 has a U-shaped countertop around the grill. It comes with a 2-burner grill (option of natural gas or liquid propane), tile top and stucco base and single-door under-counter storage. Available options include up to a 5-burner Convection grill, beverage tap, refrigerator, food warmer, side burner, LED lighting, entertainment system and built-in waterfall.
Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet Another great grill manufacturer is Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet, a company that has been making high-end grills, outdoor kitchens and recently, a martini bar, for 100 years. In addition to their awesome free-standing grills, Kalamazoo will literally build the kitchen of your dreams outdoors. The entire system stands fully finished in stainless steel and on its own leveling legs.
They will also integrate your kitchen into stone surrounds, outdoor enclosures or other hardscape treatments. Every outdoor kitchen cabinet door and drawer opening is surrounded by its own rain gutter, so any items you store inside will remain clean and dry no matter what the weather. Hand-crafted entirely of 304 and 316 stainless steel, including all hinges, handles, drawer glides and other hardware, your outdoor kitchen will withstand the elements and look beautiful for a lifetime.


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Build Richer Customer Relationships Using 'Small Data'
Treat your customers like people, not marketing segments. The key: pay attention to tweets, Facebook posts and other data that can help personalize the relationship.
August 27, 2013
We live in an age of data. Every two days, we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization until 2003. Such an explosion has happened because everyone now has the tools to share content with pretty much the entire world.
For businesses, there's more information about customers and potential customers than ever before. This means that every interaction between a business and a consumer is crucial because the impact of both positive and negative interactions can be amplified by that person and his or her social network. The traditional rules of marketing don't apply anymore. Customer engagement matters more than reach because the right engagement with the right people can have a greater impact than any Super Bowl advertisement. So, how can companies create personal engagement?
There's a temptation to adapt traditional analytical marketing techniques like segmentation, propensity modeling, etc., and bring them into the big data era. So, companies and management gurus are focusing on how all the data that customers are producing about themselves can be turned into models that then serve up the right content, offers and pricing. This type of marketing definitely needs to be done, but it isn't really going to create engagement. Yes, the offers will get better, but you're still treating customers as "segments" or "personas," rather than people. To have meaningful interactions, you need to use what I call customer "small data" such as tweets, blog posts, LinkedIn job title updates, questions on Quora and pictures on Pinterest, to name a few examples.
[ If social media makes you squirm, be aware: Ignore Facebook At Your Peril. ]
Credit card companies have always been leaders in data-driven marketing, but they are missing the boat on customer small data. Recently, I received an email offer from a credit card company offering the type of rewards I would want based on my purchasing habits, Web browsing habits and demographic. But did that interaction create an emotional connection between me and the company? In a word, no. Imagine instead that the company used the same data to send me a gift certificate for my favorite restaurant to thank me for being a customer. I would have felt entirely different about the company and it wouldn't have cost them any more than the rewards program they offered me.
Becoming a customer company today requires a fundamental shift in thinking. Traditional thinking is focused on using information and data to present the right offer or message. But the platforms that customers use to express themselves aren't just data sources, they're places where companies can really listen to customers. People like wine and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk have talked about the Thank You economy and how personal engagement is the key to becoming a successful business. The shift is from presenting offers to segments to engaging with people via their small data. Companies as varied as Comcast and KLM have shown what happens when you engage directly with customers.
So, how can you use small data to become a customer company? First, listen to the questions people are asking about your company or industry on Twitter, LinkedIn or Quora, and try to help them in a personal way. Vaynerchuk talks about how he spends hours on Twitter answering people's questions about chardonnay and chenin blanc. Find the equivalents for your business. Follow your customers and try to personally thank them. Recently, we saw that one of our customers was going to Europe (based on his tweets) and sent him a travel charger. He was thrilled and thanked us on Twitter.
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As a result, 18,000 of his followers now have a positive impression of our company, Appirio. This is just one example of what can happen when you focus on small data.
Customers are still people and there is no substitute for the power of knowing things about them like their alma mater, their favorite bottle of wine or how they like to spend their weekends. With social media, this level of customer intimacy is possible.
Don't listen to those who say that knowing customers as individuals is not possible in today's world of online, arms-length transactions. Social media and the Internet make it possible to create personal relationships at scale. If a cable company like Comcast and an airline like KLM can form personal relationships with customers, so can you.
About the Author(s)
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Google released a Chrome extension for Web Clipboard, the Google Docs feature that lets you save and quickly retrieve text from the Web. The extension could be used to paste HTML content saved in Google Docs, to save some text you need to use on another computer or to copy multiple items to the clipboard.
"Content you copy to the server clipboard is stored on Google's servers and remains there until 30 days have passed since you last took action on (for example, copied) a given content selection," informs a help center article.
For some reason, the Web Clipboard from Google Docs doesn't show the items saved using the extension, but this is probably a bug. The extension doesn't support keyboard shortcuts, there's no contextual menu entry for copy or paste and you can't preview the text before pasting.
I still don't understand why Google Notebook was discontinued. It could've been a much better Web Clipboard.
{ via Blogoscoped Forum }
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: The best features
3 hours ago


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Report: LA officer used Taser on handcuffed woman
Associated Press | November 18, 2012 Records show a Los Angeles police officer shocked a handcuffed woman with a stun gun while joking with fellow officers, in an incident caught on video. An investigation by the Los Angeles Times finds Officer Jorge Santander then appeared to lie about the December 2010 encounter repeatedly in written reports. The newspaper finds three other officers who witnessed the incident all corroborated Santander's version of events when first questioned. They also failed to tell supervisors that one officer had recorded it on video. Prosecutors declined to charge Santander. Police officials say Chief Charlie Beck is seeking to have Santander and the three others fired. The Times says it is the fourth case made public in the last few months in which LAPD officers are accused of using force on suspects who were restrained. |


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I came across this guest post from last year today and thought it worth repeating – thanks to Joe Corkery and Zuly Gonzalez for sharing.
'This is a guest post from Joe Corkery. Joe is Vice President of Business Development at OpenEye Scientific Software in Cambridge, MA. Remarkably, Joe has been with OpenEye for nearly 13 years helping it grow from 3 people to over 40 at last count. In an earlier life, Joe ran away from writing code to attend medical school, only to be drawn back in after graduation. Despite not having access to a prescription pad, he is passionate about drug discovery and the impact computers have on that process, among others.
Joe gave a Lightning Talk at Business of Software 2010, and he was gracious enough to share his experience with us. If you're still not sure why you should give a Lightning Talk, take a look at what he has to say.'
With the deadline for Lightning Talk submissions rapidly approaching (midnight on August 7th), I thought I'd offer a little perspective on why you should be giving a Lightning Talk.
Giving a Lightning Talk is without a doubt an unnerving experience, but giving one at Business of Software is terrifying because it's not your average audience. The audience is filled with not only your peers, but also your idols, and a large number of other software rock stars that you just haven't heard of yet. However, despite the boot-shaking terror that came with giving a Lightning Talk at BoS 2010, it was far and away the best thing I did at that meeting and it continues to pay dividends to this day.
If you aren't familiar with the concept of Lightning Talks, they are very short time-constrained talks in which you are allowed 7.5 minutes to cover 15 slides (each of which will be automatically advanced every 30 seconds). After all the talks have been given (there are usually between 5-10), the audience votes on the best talk. The winner receives bragging rights, an invitation to the speakers' dinner and whatever cool electronic gadget happens to be in vogue that year. Winners from previous years have also gone on to give regular talks in the subsequent year's meeting.
Even if you don't win (which sadly I didn't), giving a Lightning Talk provides you with an unprecedented opportunity to meet people at the conference (which if that isn't your goal in coming to the meeting, you ought to rethink your goals), both before and especially after you give your talk. The fact that you are giving a Lightning Talk is a remarkable conversation icebreaker, particularly at the Sunday night cocktail reception. This is particularly helpful if you aren't naturally social and can never find the right topic to start a conversation, because the Lightning Talk will do it for you. Mark Stephens (the winner from BoS 2009) helped me (and a few others) out in this regard by introducing us to other groups by name, mentioning the fact that we were giving Lightning Talks, and then letting the conversation take off from there. Most people you will meet will generally be in awe that you've agreed to subject yourself to this strange form of torture and will really want to talk to you about it. What's even better is that because you are putting yourself out there as an opportunity for their schadenfraude, people are much more likely to remember you both during and after the meeting as a result. I was truly amazed by the number of people (including a few of the real speakers) that remembered me at BoS 2011 because of it – it was a great way to start a new meeting.
But don't forget the other presenters – there is nothing quite like a shared challenge to bring people together and build camaraderie. I still try to make a point of keeping up with a number of my fellow speakers and look forward to seeing them again at the meeting this year.
Beyond meeting new people, the Lightning Talk gives you a rare opportunity to spend time thinking about a specific topic of your own choosing and distilling it down into something you can quickly and effectively communicate to others. I can't underestimate the importance of this skill and what better way to hone that than by sharing a relevant passion with an open and like-minded audience. Amazingly enough, they let me talk about how Viagra could teach us something about the software business (and it's not how you think)! The story is a medical version of a business model pivot. Ask me about it at the Sunday night reception.
One of the biggest obstacles to participation is clearly the fear of having to speak on someone else's clock. And it should be a fear, because it is a serious challenge. Watching the countdown clock staring you in the face really brings it home during the talk. However, with a lot of preparation (about which I'll write a separate post later), you can definitely do it (and do it well) if you are willing to put in the time. But, even if you don't pull it off without a hitch, you will still have the respect of all the other attendees for trying and with this crowd, that isn't nothing.
Finally, if I haven't convinced you to give this a try yet, how about this: the conference fee for Lightning Talk speakers is waived. So, if you're just starting up and aren't sure you can afford to come to the meeting or if you're at a larger company that is just too lame to pay for you to attend, this is a great way to get a spot at the meeting.
So now, my question to you is, why aren't you fighting for a spot to give a Lightning Talk at this meeting? Just writing about it has made me excited for the conference; perhaps, I should throw my hat into the ring again and give a meta-Lightning Talk on why it should be you on the stage and not me! For more details on how to apply to do a Lightning Talk, go here. See you in October!
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